The share of Americans who consider Russia an “enemy” has fallen to its lowest point since it began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, according to a poll published Thursday by Pew Research Center. The shift owes largely to evolving views among Republicans amid stark changes in U.S. policy and diplomacy toward Russia and Ukraine under President Donald Trump.

The survey found the share of Americans who said Russia was an “enemy” had fallen to 50%, from 61% in April 2024 and 70% in March 2022, just after the invasion began.

The softening in attitudes toward Russia was far sharper among Republican voters, with 40 percent saying Russia was an enemy, down from 58% last year and 69% in March 2022. Thirty-four percent of Americans overall now describe Russia as a competitor of the United States, while just 9% said it was a partner.

The 40% figure brings Republicans close to attitudes toward Russia before it invaded Ukraine. In January 2022, 39% of Republicans viewed Russia as an enemy. The share of Republicans who view Russia as a “partner” has risen above levels before the invasion, to 12%.

“More Republicans see Russia as a competitor than as an enemy for the first time since before the Russia-Ukraine war started,” the survey’s authors write.

Pew conducted the survey of 3,605 U.S. adults between March 24 and March 30 — just after a highly anticipated phone call between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin. The survey’s overall margin of sampling error is 1.9 percentage points, and 2.7 percentage points for results among Democrats and Republicans.

Trump said after the call that the United States was “a much different country than we were a few months ago” and would seek friendlier relations with Russia, in an apparent reversal of Washington’s traditional foreign-policy position that it was a U.S. rival.

Though Trump has pressed for an urgent peace deal in Ukraine, several top officials in Moscow this week have downplayed hopes of an imminent agreement, reasserting Russia’s maximalist demands to end the war.

According to the Pew survey, fewer Americans now say the U.S. has a responsibility to help Ukraine defend itself from Russia’s invasion, at 44% compared with 50% after the U.S. presidential election in November. The drop is driven by a decline in Republican support for Ukraine’s war effort, to 23% from 36%.

The decline follows a contentious Oval Office meeting in February between Trump, Vice President JD Vance and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, in which Vance berated the Ukrainian leader, accusing him of ingratitude for U.S. military support. Zelensky had arrived at the White House to sign a rare earth mineral rights deal, but he left early after the meeting became acrimonious.

Trump has repeatedly made statements accusing former president Joe Biden and Zelensky of starting the war in Ukraine or allowing it to happen. The war began when Russia invaded Ukraine.

“You don’t start a war against someone 20 times your size and then hope that people give you some missiles,” Trump said Monday in the White House, the latest in a string of remarks shifting blame for the war away from Russia.

The day before, Russian missile attacks on the Ukrainian city of Sumy killed 34 people. The attacks — and Trump’s response — sparked condemnation from many Western leaders. Trump on Monday said he was told that the strike on Sumy was a “mistake.”

Democrats were far more likely to express confidence in Zelensky than Republicans, at 70% vs. 30%. Overall, Americans’ confidence in Putin remained low: Just 12% of U.S. adults expressed “some” confidence in him “to do the right thing regarding world affairs,” although there were small signs of improvement in his standing among Republican voters. A majority of Americans — 57% — had no confidence at all in Putin, whereas roughly half of Americans — 49% — have a lot or some confidence in Zelensky’s ability to do the right thing.

“Over the past year, Republicans have become somewhat more likely to see Russia favorably and to express confidence in Putin, while Democratic views are largely unchanged,” the survey’s authors said.

Some 47% of Americans are extremely or very concerned about Russia invading other countries, and 43% are concerned about Russia defeating and taking over Ukraine. Republicans have become less concerned on both questions in recent months, while Democrats have become more so, the Pew survey found.

Robyn Dixon contributed to this report.